New Kid in Class
by Mina-Fox-Glam
Summary: A new family moves in to Walkerville and from that family is a new student named Mina Ral who is now in Ms. Frizzle's class and participating in the field trips.
1. A New Neighbor

Disclaimer: _The Magic School Bus_ is the property of Scholastic, as well as author Joanna Cole and artist Bruce Degen. The character Mina Ral and his family are my MSB fan-made characters. Mrs. Terese is Phoebe's implied mother yet to be revealed in the series. The names _Phoenix_ and _Daisy_ are the fan-made given names that I'm referring to Phoebe's parents as.

It was a warm winter day in January in the city of Walkerville. Most of the snow had melted and the roads were clear. It was teacher workday at Walkerville Elementary School, so all the kids had the day off until tomorrow.

Meanwhile, at Phoebe's house, Phoebe was in the kitchen baking homemade gluten-free chocolate-chip cookies. She had just finished one batch and was getting ready to do another. Her parents were in the rumpus room: her mother was playing on the russet-colored spinet piano while her blind father was singing along.

Right away, before Phoebe was able to put the next batch of cookies into the oven, she became startled by a sound coming from outside. It was so loud that she was curious what it could be outside. So, she turned off the oven, put on her coat and boots and walked out the front door. Much to her surprise, there was a new family moving in next door to her house. She saw a red and white conversion van (a 1986 Chevrolet Chevy Van G20 Gladiator) pulling in and behind it was a big moving van (a 1988 Chevrolet Chevy Van 30 cutaway) loaded with furniture and other things.

"Wow, someone's moving in?" Phoebe said to herself watching the scene.

Phoebe's house and the house next door to hers were both very alike. They were mansard-roofed homes where the entire second floor took place inside the roof, and the roofs had shake shingles. The house next door had light blue siding in a horizontal pattern while Phoebe's had light red brick siding. The windows around the first floor on both homes were decked with faux shutters. Comparing the size of the houses: the house next door was about three-tenths larger and had three garage doors that were tall enough that a full-size van could fit inside, while Phoebe's relatively small house had only one garage door that only had space for one car and no car taller than a minivan could fit in there.

Phoebe then sat on the front porch so the new neighbors wouldn't accuse her of spying. However, there was a wooden fence dividing her house and the one next door that the new family was moving into. The van that belonged to the family moving in to the house next door then slowly backed into the driveway of their new house. The moving van had just parked across the street next to a curb between two houses. There were two cars mounted on the trailer pulled by the moving van: a maroon 1986 Chevrolet Celebrity sedan and a light blue 1980 Chevrolet C/K 2-door pickup.

"I suppose they have a teenage driver," Phoebe guessed.

Just then, the family next door exited the conversion van and headed to the moving van to start unloading furniture and other things.

In the next ten minutes, when most of the moving van was unloaded, Phoebe got bored and decided to go take a walk. By mistake, she turned left on the sidewalk while walking from her house and it seemed like she was butting in. Phoebe then tripped and fell right in the grass.

"Whoa!" said Phoebe.

"Are you all right?" said a boy who was roughly around her age.

"I'm fine," said Phoebe.

"Care to help you up?" he continued.

"That's all right," Phoebe replied.

So Phoebe got up with all her strength.

"Anyway," said the boy. "What's your name?"

"My name is Phoebe," said Phoebe. "P-H-O-E-B-E. Phoebe Marie Terese. What's yours?"

"Mina," said the boy. "Mina Foxi Ral. My first and last names sound like mineral, my middle name is spelled with an I in place of the Y."

And so they shook hands together.

"It's so nice to meet you, Mineral…I mean Mina Ral," said Phoebe.

"Same to you, Phoebe," said Mina.

Mina was about the same height as Phoebe. He had long blonde hair with bangs across his forehead. His favorite attire included an orange baseball cap with a fox's ears and a fox's face on it, an orange T-shirt with a fox's head, blue shorts, and red and white sneakers with white socks. At this moment, he had on blue jeans, orange boots, an orange winter jacket, black mittens that matched a fox's paws, and an orange winter hat with a fox on it.

"And by the way, do you go to school?" he asked.

"Yes," replied Phoebe. "Walkerville Elementary. And you?"

"Same here," he said. "We've just moved in from our old home in Montreal. I'm starting tomorrow. In Ms. Frizzle's class."

"Wow," said Phoebe. "That's my teacher, too. And the bus driver. We go on field trips about once a week but sometimes when it's an emergency."

"Yeah," said Mina. "I'm a transfer student now, and so are my siblings, except for the littlest one who just had his third birthday back in November. We moved here because my dad just landed a job in a geology museum, and my mom just applied to go work in a jewelry shop."

"That's great," said Phoebe. "And I see you guys have three cars."

"Yep," said Mina. "I have an older brother whom I usually carpool with to school and back, and my older sister and my other younger brother ride along too. That sedan is my big brother's car. The pickup is my dad's, and that comfy van is my mom's but also the family car when we go on vacation or go out as a family."

"Awesome," said Phoebe. "Too bad I'm an only child. My house is rather small, and we only have one car and just my mom is the driver because my dad is blind and always has to be the passenger, but thankfully my dad is great at hearing and singing."

"That's all right," said Mina. "An only child is always worth a lot of friends."

"For sure," said Phoebe. "Glad I have friends to spend time with since I started going to Walkerville on my first day here in third grade. But I do miss my old friends from my old school."

"Me too," said Mina. "I really miss my old Canadian friends and we had no choice but to move because of my dad's job. And my siblings miss their old friends too. And we even had to get our semester exams done in advance before moving."

"Yeah," said Phoebe. "I can't wait for the final results in my semester exam from yesterday. I hope I get a B- or better."

"Well said," said Mina. "Care to help us out with the moving stuff?"

"Sure," said Phoebe. "One good family can always lend a helping hand."

So Phoebe joined along with Mina's family to help out with a bunch of moving supplies.

"And who's here to help?" said Mina's mother, Mrs. Ral who had just walked out of the front door of their new home while in the middle of loading their belongings into the house. Her hair was naturally blonde, but it was dyed auburn like Phoebe's.

"Oh, that's my new friend, Phoebe," said Mina.

"Well, congratulations on making your first new friend here in America," said Mrs. Ral. "Let's keep moving, we're only halfway done."

So, Phoebe and Mina started working together. Since most of the heavy furniture were taken out of the moving van and loaded into the house, Mina and Phoebe went to the conversion van to get out some lightweight packages of items. They both took out a box that was labeled "Mina's Stuffed Animals" and went into the house.

"Wow, you sure love stuffed animals, don't you?" said Phoebe.

"Yes," said Mina. "No one is ever too old for stuffed animals. Not even my older brother Sparky or older sister Sapphire. They're never too old either and they still love them."

"Same here," said Phoebe. "Stuffed animals have always been my life for as much as I adore animals."

Phoebe and Mina slowly walked up the stairs and then went into one of the bedrooms. There were boxes that have yet to be unpacked and two beds that had yet to be assembled. There was another boy in the room who looked to be about twice Mina's age and taller. His hair was blonde and identical to his younger brother's, except it looked thicker and more styled like how hair metal musicians in the 1980s styled their hairs. He usually wore wild clothes of a typical teenager.

"This is my room and my brother Sparky's," said Mina. "And that's my brother Sparky right there."

"Yo!" said Sparky. "Looks like we have a guest helping my awesome bro."

"Yes," replied Phoebe. "My name's Phoebe by the way."

"Cool," said Sparky. "Sparky's my name."

"Nice to meet you too," said Phoebe.

Then they walked out of the bedroom and then saw a girl with long blonde hair that had bangs across her forehead and had blue streaks in most of her hair and looked like she was starting to become a teenager. She came from another bedroom.

"Wait a minute," said the girl intervening. "Who's here?"

"I'm Phoebe Terese," said the auburn-haired girl.

"Nice to meet you, Phoebe," said the girl. "I'm Sapphire, the only girl in my family besides my mom."

"So nice to meet you, Sapphire," said Phoebe. "That name reminds me of one of those minerals we collected on my class's field trips."

Sapphire, the only girl in the family always liked to wear blue, and always liked just about anything blue, especially cosmetics.

"My room would look more complete if we were to just paint the walls blue," said Sapphire. "White walls are just plain and look like they have room for just any color let alone a theme, but it would be cheaper if we just painted them blue. The only that's apparently blue in new room is just that glaucous carpeting."

"Sure," said her brother Mina. "My room and Sparky's need a paint job, too. We want our walls a nice reddish-orange color."

"Will you guys quit monkeying around and keep getting stuff in the house?" a man's voice from downstairs called.

"We're on it, Dad," Mina called in return.

So the four of them walked downstairs and went back to the family's van to get some more stuff.

As they came downstairs, they encountered a figure of a grown man with shaggy blond hair. It was the same person who ordered them to keep moving. The manly figure was the father, Mr. Ral himself.

"And who's this?" said Mr. Ral, noticing the redheaded girl with his three older kids.

"Her name's Phoebe," said Mina. "She agreed to help out with us."

"Good to meet you, Phoebe," said Mr. Ral. "I'm their father, Copper."

"So nice to meet you, Mr. Ral," said Phoebe.

Outside, there were two boys playing together: one looked to be around a kindergartner's age and another was a small toddler. Mina and his two older siblings and Phoebe walked out the front door.

"Are those your two little brothers?" Phoebe asked Mina, pointing to the younger ones.

"Yep, that's them," said Mina. "The bigger one is Chalky, he's six and in the first grade. The other one is Rocky. He just had his third birthday a few months ago."

Chalky had blond hair at almost the same lengths as his older brother Mina. Rocky's hair was near shoulder-length and shorter than the rest of the family's hairs.

While the two younger brothers kept playing, Mina and his older brother and sister and neighbor Phoebe continued working together to load things into the house.

As soon as they were done, Phoebe decided to introduce her parents to the new neighbors. So she went back to her house to find her parents who were still in the rumpus room doing their musical routine.

"Mom, Dad," Phoebe interrupted. "We have some new neighbors I would like to introduce you to."

"Really?" said Mrs. Terese. "That's nice. We'd like to meet them."

So Phoebe led her parents outside their house and to the Ral family's house next door.

"Mr. and Mrs. Ral," said Phoebe, "I'd like to introduce you to my mom and dad."

"Hi, my name is Daisy Terese," said Mrs. Terese.

"And I'm her husband Phoenix," said Mr. Terese.

"So, nice to meet you," said Mrs. Ral. "I'm Ruby Ral."

"And I'm her husband Copper," said Mr. Ral.

Both of the parents from both families then shook each others' hands.

"And these are my five kids," said Mrs. Ral, pointing them out to the Terese parents. "This is Sparky, he's 16. And Sapphire, she's 12 and our only daughter. And Mina, he's 9. And Chalky, he's 6. And our little one, that's Rocky."

After the encounter, the Ral family then gave the Tereses a tour of their new home, but they were half done and had a lot of unpacking to do. The master bedroom had wallpaper full of flowers and lavender carpeting. The upstairs area was mostly bedrooms. The ground floor had a kitchen, a dining room, and a living room. The basement had a laundry room, a utility room, and a rumpus room. There were four total bathrooms: one on the ground floor, two upstairs including a master bathroom, and one more in the basement via the rumpus room and adjacent to the laundry room. All of the household appliances except for the water heater were from the 1970s and came with the house. No matter the age, the house looked to be in great shape.

After the tour, Phoebe and her parents then helped the Rals get finished unpacking. But the kids' bedrooms were an exception since the walls needed a paint job. But they didn't want to do the job alone or have to hire a painting service to get it all done. Then the Tereses invited the Rals to their house and Phoebe who had just made a batch of cookies then offered them to the new family as a treat for moving in.


	2. A New Student

The next day, it was the start of second semester at Walkerville Elementary School.

On the way to school at 7:00 AM, Mina and his sister Sapphire and brother Chalky were carpooling with their older brother Sparky who was driving his car. Sapphire rode in the front seat and Mina and Chalky rode in the back seat. Before they went to their schools, they pulled through the drive thru at Wendy's to pick up breakfast. They all ate egg biscuits and had orange juice to drink except for Sparky who had hot coffee instead. Then they reached Walkerville Elementary School and then Mina and Chalky exited the car and walked into the building. Then Sparky drove out and then dropped off Sapphire at Walkerville Middle School and then Sparky drove himself to Walkerville High School.

As Mina and Chalky entered the building, they then went to the cafeteria where a bunch of the students were chattering up until it was time for class to begin. The two brothers managed to find the grade groups they were each in: 3rd grade for Mina and 1st grade for Chalky.

Later, when the clock struck 8:00, the bell rang and it was time for the kids to file to their classes. Mina found Ms. Frizzle's classroom with no trouble at all. Chalky did the same, but asked for assistance to find the 1st grade classroom he was sorted in.

In Ms. Frizzle's classroom, one more desk was added, bringing the total to nine. The classroom had always had eight desks since the beginning of the school year up until the new semester started.

"Class," said Ms. Frizzle, presenting the new blond-haired kid in front of the class. "We have a new student today. This is Mina Ral. He is a foreign exchange student from Canada. He and his family had just moved in to Walkerville, but also because of his dad's job. His name does in fact sound like the word _mineral_ which you guys have studied since the previous semester, but I want you all to be nice to this kid and make him feel welcome. He wasn't as nervous as some of you may have been when you guys started at the beginning of the previous semester. And for the rest of you eight, you all passed the semester test with scores ranging between 82 and 100. But the only one to get a 100% out of you all…is Dorothy Ann. Now Mina, you may take your seat."

As Mina sat down at his desk, Ms. Frizzle then discussed with the class more about the beginning of the second semester. She also talked about going on field trips for mostly scientific experiences. Meanwhile, Mina raised his hand.

"Yes, Mina?" said Ms. Frizzle.

"Speaking of field trips," said Mina. "I've only gone on field trips in just a normal bus. My room and my siblings' rooms are in need of a paint job, but we don't want to pay for a service and nor do my parents have the energy to paint."

"A field trip to your house?" said Ms. Frizzle. "Why, I never thought of that. And no paying for a painting service of course. Great idea. To the Bus, class. Single-file please."

And so Ms. Frizzle led the entire class, including the new student Mina out of the classroom and to the Bus.


	3. Field Trip at Home

As Ms. Frizzle led her class outside to the Bus, Mina was surprised over the Bus's appearance.

"Is that a talking bus?" asked Mina, pointing to the Bus whose front end has facial expressions.

"Good observation, Mina," said Ms. Frizzle. "Sad to say this, but it doesn't talk. It's magical and can take on multiple forms and sizes."

"Wow," said Mina. "I've never been on a bus like this. And I haven't taken a bus ride to school and back home since kindergarten. My parents pulled me off the bus after I complained to them about the other kids being rough."

"Not my class for sure," said Ms. Frizzle. "That's why with a small class, it's easier to manage and they're usually well-behaved and never jump around or throw stuff. Single-file please."

So the class slowly filed into the Bus. Most of the kids sat in their own seats, except for Phoebe and Mina who both sat together in the seat behind the driver's seat.

"Where to?" asked Ms. Frizzle as they started the Bus.

"Mineral Avenue," said Mina. "Next door to Phoebe's house."

"Yeah, like Phoebe and Mina might get married when they grow up," joked Carlos.

"CARLOS!" the class, including Mina replied.

After the kids buckled up, Ms. Frizzle then drove off the school campus and all they way to Mina's house.

As they arrived, Ms. Frizzle parked the Bus next to the curb in front of Mina's house. She then yanked on the red lever on the dashboard and then the bus transformed and took the form of a 1970s style cargo van and became decorated with paint brushes and buckets and blobs in various colors. Ms. Frizzle and her students' attires also transformed into overalls with long-sleeve shirts and work boots and gloves and caps, all of them matching the colors of their own casual attires. The inside of the bus transformed and the side-by-side seats became bench seats in 3-3-4 from front to back.

"Is it just me, or did some wall appear behind us?" asked Ralphie.

"That's where the painting supplies and stuff are stored," said Ms. Frizzle. "Everyone off the bus, single-file please."

As everyone stepped out of the bus, Ms. Frizzle opened the rear side doors that was once an emergency exit door. Inside behind the wall were paint buckets and paint supplies, including brushes and rollers. There were also some plastic coverings that would be placed on furniture and other objects for the paint to avoid contact with. Also included were some standing fans to dry the paint and ladders to reach higher areas.

"Well, Mina," asked Ms. Frizzle, "what are the colors you need to paint those rooms?"

"My room and Sparky's which we share, we need a reddish-orange color to our walls," he replied. "And Sapphire's we need blue, and my two little brothers Chalky and Rocky's room needs yellow."

"Well said," said Ms. Frizzle. "I will assign you kids to work in groups of three. Mina, Ralphie, and Phoebe, you three work on Mina and Sparky's room. Wanda, Dorothy Ann, and Keesha, you three girls work on Sapphire's room. And Arnold, Tim, and Carlos, you three boys work on Chalky and Rocky's room. But for assistance, I'll help with the girls working on Sapphire's room, and Liz will help with the boys working on Chalky and Rocky's room. Mina, you lead the way."

So Mina led the rest of the class to his house. He opened the front door, much to his mom's surprise.

"Who's here?" called a woman's voice from inside the house.

"It's me and my class, Mom," Mina called in return. "We're on a field trip here."

"Well, come on in," called Mrs. Ral.

As Mrs. Ral came by, Mina decided to introduce her to the rest of his class.

"These are my new classmates," Mina said to his mom.

"I'm his mother, Mrs. Ral," said Mrs. Ral. "Ruby Diamond Ral."

"So nice to see you, Mrs. Ral," said Ms. Frizzle. "And this is my pet lizard, Liz. The class aide."

"I'm Ralphie," said Ralphie.

"And Dorothy Ann," added Dorothy Ann.

"Wanda," added Wanda.

"Tim," added Tim.

"Carlos," added Carlos.

"Keesha," added Keesha.

"And I'm Arnold," added Arnold.

"Nice to meet you, kids," said Mrs. Ral.

"We're here to get these bedrooms painted," said Mina. "Except for yours and Dad's that has wallpaper, and we don't want to paint over something wonderful-looking. The class is here to help. And before we get started, I'm going to show them the bedrooms that need a paint job. Follow me."

And so Mina led the rest of the class upstairs to show them the bedrooms. First, he led them to the bedroom in the middle of the other two bedrooms all at the front end of the house.

"This is my room and Sparky's," said Mina. "This is the room that Ralphie, Phoebe, and I will work on."

Then he led them to another bedroom on the right side of the middle one.

"This is my sister Sapphire's room," continued Mina. "This is where the other three girls and the Friz will work on."

Then he led them to one more bedroom on the exact opposite side.

"And this is my little brothers' room," continued Mina. "This is where the other three boys and Liz will work on. Now let's get started."

So the class all went back downstairs and outside back to the Bus to get the paint supplies. Before they started painting, they all grabbed out the plastic coverings and applied them all to the furniture and carpeting and other objects in the three bedrooms. Then they went for the painting supplies and started working.

The kids who used the paint rollers to apply to the wall edges were Mina, Phoebe, Keesha, Wanda, Arnold, and Carlos. The ones who used the paint brushes to apply to the wall corners were Ralphie, Dorothy Ann, and Tim. Ms. Frizzle and Liz were also using brushes to save time with the groups they were each assisting.

While Mina was leading his group of three to get his and his brother's room's walls painted, his partners acted rather reluctant to work.

"Gee, how many kids this age could do a job like this?" asked Phoebe.

"Relax, Phoebe," said Mina. "If you're going to complain, then we can't get the job done. Just act like you want to do it, even if you're reluctant to do it."

"Ohhhh!" Ralphie scoffed. "How many kids our age do you see wanting to go up a ladder?"

"Snap out of it!" said Mina. "How about less complaining and more working? I could get the Friz or Liz to help, but I'm supposed to be the leader here. There's no need to be afraid of heights."

In Sapphire's room where the paint job was being done by all the other girls plus Ms. Frizzle, the girls didn't seem too thrilled to do the job either.

"You know what?" said Wanda. "I hate doing stuff like this."

"Me either," agreed Keesha. "How many kids this young could ever do this kind of hard work? It's ridiculous."

"Oh, but it's not that hard," Ms. Frizzle intervened. "When I was about your age, I even helped some people do this kind of work. I didn't like doing it but I had to."

"According to my research," said Dorothy Ann, "When there are more people working together, the job can get done faster. But people who don't act interested make excuses to fall behind."

In Chalky and Rocky's room where the other three boys and Liz were working on, the boys didn't seem too thrilled either.

"Is this job worth getting paint all over yourselves?" complained Carlos. "Whoever thought of the idea of having kids do this kind of job has got to be nuts."

"Yeah," agreed Tim. "I'd rather paint a picture than just paint the walls like it's some kind of homework assignment."

"Yeah," Arnold concurred. "I knew I should have stayed home today, I mean my house. But what's the lesson in making excuses like that when we're supposed to be working and just not saying anything?"

Despite the excuses the kids were making, they spent an hour and half to get all the walls painted in those kids' bedrooms. Ms. Frizzle however switched to the other bedrooms in between time to help out those groups too.

"Well, what do you think?" Mina asked to his partners Ralphie and Phoebe.

"Looks good," said Phoebe.

All three groups stepped out of the bedrooms they were working on.

"Now that you guys got all the painting done," said Ms. Frizzle. "Before it's all considered done, there's only one more thing to do: We need to get those fans to dry the walls, and it could take a few hours or so."

So Ms. Frizzle and her class headed back to the Bus to get the oscillating fans and then they brought in twelve of them – four for each bedroom and started running them. They also put up signs that said "WET PAINT – DO NOT ENTER".

It took over an hour for the walls to dry after running the fan. When that was done, the class with gloves on their hands tested the walls to make sure the paint had dried. Without a doubt, the walls were dry and not a single speck of paint shed off of any of the walls.

When they were all done and returned the oscillating fans to the Bus, they all boarded the Bus and the Bus was transformed back to normal and then they all headed back to school.

Later, when it was lunchtime, all of the classes went to the cafeteria. Mina brought a lunch box that had a picture of a red fox on the front cover and in his lunch box he brought along an apple, two slices of bread, and a can of orange soda. He sat between Phoebe and Carlos.

 _I can't wait until I get home today and we hang up the stuff on the walls in our rooms,_ thought Mina.

Throughout the day at school, Mina couldn't stop thinking about what his bedroom and his siblings' rooms would look like when they were finished.


	4. The Result

After school, Mina and his brother Chalky carpooled back home with their older brother Sparky and sister Sapphire. On the drive home, Mina talked to his siblings about his day and revealed to them that his class took a field trip to his house and had painted the walls in their bedrooms, which surprised his siblings.

As they entered back to the house, Mina gave his siblings a tour of their rooms and by how colorful they have since become. The first room they went to was Mina and Sparky's.

"Wow, just what we expected," said Sparky.

"Yup," said Mina. "A nice flare of a color gives us the warmth we need."

Then they moved on to Sapphire's room.

"Amazing," said Sapphire. "This color matches how I set up my room, and even matches my bed and other things. I always like everything blue and beautiful."

And finally, they moved on to Chalky and Rocky's room.

"Wow!" said Chalky. "That looks like just the room for little brothers."

"Indeed it is," Mina replied. "And now that the paint is dry, let's get to work unpacking and decorating our walls."

So Mina and his siblings then worked together finishing up with the decorations to their rooms. Their rooms finally had posters and picture frames and other things to make their rooms stand out. Then they surprised their mother to their rooms and then when the father came home later at 6:00 PM, he became amazed at their rooms being painted and decorated.

Later, Mina invited his neighbor Phoebe over to check out the rooms having been all finished.

"I have a surprise for you," said Mina.

"What is it?" she asked.

"That's a secret," he said. "Just keep your eyes closed and walk with me and I'll show you."

So Phoebe kept her eyes closed as Mina promised her to do and led he the way.

As they went up the stairs in his house, he took Phoebe to his and Sparky's room.

"All right," said Mina. "Now you may open your eyes."

Phoebe opened her eyes and gasped with delight.

"Wow!" said Phoebe. "You certainly have the nicest bedroom of all."

"Thanks," said Mina. "I'm glad you enjoyed. We couldn't have gotten the job done without our class."

"And it wasn't as stressful painting as I thought it would be," said Phoebe.

"Not at all," said Mina. "I can't wait to tell the Friz tomorrow about what wonderful bedrooms we have now."

And then on the next day, Mina gave a speech in front of the class about their field trip to the house and how he and his siblings finally finished decorating their rooms after the paint job had been done. When he was done, the entire class gave a round of applause. Plus the rest of his classmates couldn't wait to see his house once he would invite them each to spend time.

THE END


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